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August 9 – Five rain soaked days and counting…

Sunday morning was a carbon copy of the previous four

mornings. Rain soaked the grounds and the sun was nowhere to be

seen. The ladies were stuck indoors entertaining each other with

small talk and card games, and Lauren was ready to burst with the

lack of activity. She’d barely seen Vin all day because he’d been

outdoors working after refusing her help when she offered it at the

breakfast table. Seeing him burst through the kitchen door and barrel

straight down the hall toward his room had her nerves prickling. She

was waiting in the foyer when he reappeared wearing rain pants and

waterproof boots.

“What’s happened?” she asked, stepping directly in front of him.

“Munchkin’s missing.”

“Who’s Munchkin?” Jeanette asked, looking perplexed as she

joined them.

Lauren felt her heart lurch in her chest. “We’ve got to find her.

She’s too old to be out in this kind of weather without the protection

of the herd.”

Jeanette shook her head, still trying to understand. “Wait, you’re

talking about a cow? Aren’t cows meant to be outdoors?”

“Most of the pastures have gullies and ravines that fill up when

we get a lot of rain. Cows aren’t stupid, but they’re herd animals.

When it rains, they gather up to shelter each other. If she’s on her

own, not only does she not have that protection, but there’s a chance

she could drown trying to cross a flooded part of the land.”

Lori King

“Drannon would be devastated,” Lauren whispered. Jeanette

huffed with frustration next to her, and she turned to explain.

“Munchkin is basically Drannon’s pet. He’s had her forever. We

have to find her.”

“We? Oh, no, I’ll go out looking for the cow, you stay put and

watch the other ladies.”

Twin female death glares turned on him, and he felt like a hog

looking at a roasting pit.

“Watch us?” Jeanette hissed. “What do you mean watch us?”

“That didn’t come out how I meant it. I just—”

Lauren cut him off. “You just stuck your foot in your mouth.

Now, before you dig this hole any deeper, you’d better haul ass out to

the barn to get Toto ready to ride. You take the north pasture and I’ll

go west on Glenda.”

Vin immediately shook his head. “Nope, Glenda threw a shoe

this morning. Toto is the only one I’d feel safe taking out in the

storm. Damn it. Why the hell Roman still wanted to go to this auction

in the middle of this shitstorm is beyond me.”

Jeanette lifted her eyebrow at him. “What shitstorm? You mean

the rain?”

He ignored her question completely. “I’ll go out on Toto, and

you stay put.”

“It’s not safe for you to go alone. You have to at least take

Daniel with you,” Lauren argued.

“He went to help his sister at her place. They’re flooded, too. I’ll

grab one of the ranch hands.”

She rolled her eyes. “Uh, you sent them in to town to help with

sandbagging, remember?” She puffed up her chest and deepened her

voice repeating his own words to him, “The herd’s pastured, and the

women are all tucked in safe, you boys go see where you can help

out.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Vin stared at Lauren in surprise. She’d always been stubborn,

but now she was being downright difficult.

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“All right, I get it, but I still only have one horse, so no dice.”

Frustration was setting in. He knew that the rain was coming down in

buckets and every minute they stood here arguing was another mark

against Munchkin. If she died on Vin’s watch… Well, that just

wasn’t an option. Especially after the rain had already stolen Lacy’s

picture-perfect wedding day.

“Then it sounds like we’re riding double. Come on cowboy, get

your ass in gear, or I’ll be leaving you behind.” Lauren pushed past

him on her way to the door.

“Fucking A,” he grumbled. The last thing he needed was Lauren

plastered against his back while they rode out into the darkness. His

body wouldn’t be able to handle the closeness at this point. “Lauren,

this isn’t a good idea.”

He was talking to the wind because she’d managed to pull on a

raincoat and hat, and dart out the door in a flash, leaving him behind.

With a growl of irritation, he glanced back at Jeanette. “There’s a

walkie-talkie in the mudroom.” She nodded in understanding, and he

gave her a grim smile. “Keep it on channel four. I’ll take the other

with me just in case. And please promise me you ladies will stay

put.”

“I’m not going anywhere, but your ride might be if you don’t get

moving,” Jeanette said, smiling at him like she had a secret.

Storming out the front door, he had to hold onto his bandana to

keep it in place. The wind had picked up, and it was sending the rain

sideways, making it difficult to walk or even see anything. Finding

one cow in hundreds of acres of pasture was an impossible task in

these conditions, but he had no other options now.

He found Lauren already leading Toto from his stall toward the

saddle barn, and he hurried to assist her. In complete silence, they

saddled the horse and prepared to ride out. Collecting the matching

walkie-talkie he clipped it to his shirt pocket under his rain coat.

“North or west first?” Lauren finally asked, stroking Toto’s

flanks as she waited.

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Lori King

“I know you don’t want to ride double with me,” he said,

ignoring the question. “Stop acting like this, and just go back in the

house.”

“You’re right, I don’t want to ride double with you, but

Munchkin is important to Drannon. It’s not like I don’t know what

I’m doing. I can outride and outshoot all of you boys. And you can’t

be out there alone. What if something happens?”

He tapped the jacket, “That’s why I have a walkie.”

“Uh huh, and what if you can’t reach Munchkin because she’s

stuck in the mud?”

“I’ll lash her to Toto’s saddle and we’ll pull her out.”

“Stop it. I’m not arguing with you about this. I’m going with you

or you’re not going, and we both know that’s not an option,” Lauren

snapped. “I realize you don’t want to have to be more intimate with

me than necessary, so I promise I won’t fondle you while I’m close.”

Vin’s temper suddenly shifted, and heat blazed through his body.

“You think I don’t want to touch you?”

She shrugged, and turned away. Refusing to let her shut him out,

he reached for her, and turned her chin his way. “I want to do so

much more than just touch you, Lauren. I want to taste you, touch

you, lick you, absorb you…love you.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Emotion clogged Lauren’s throat, but her nipples hardened at his

words. He couldn’t be serious. “This isn’t about sex.”

“You’re right, it’s not,” he agreed, stepping closer to her. “It’s

about how deeply I hurt you. I can’t take it back, Lauren. I can’t

make the hurt go away, but I’m sorry. I didn’t realize what I was

doing.”

“Are we going to ride, or just stand around chatting?” she asked

sarcastically, moving from the small space between him and the

horse. Before she could continue, he grabbed her hand, and pulled

her off balance. She fell into his chest, and he captured her mouth in

a hard kiss.

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Fireworks exploded in her brain, and she melted into him.

Tangling her tongue with his, she sighed with pleasure when he

wrapped his arms around her waist and drew their bodies into full

contact. Even with both of them wearing layers, the heat was

scorching.

Like an addict who’d been clean for years she was suddenly

enveloped in an intense wave of need that she couldn’t control. She

craved his taste and his hands on her body. As if he could read her

mind, Vin’s hands slid around to cup her ass, drawing her tight

against him. Her breasts pressed into his chest, nipples aching, as he

claimed her mouth.

The world disappeared around them. Lauren couldn’t have

escaped the flames building between them if she’d wanted to, and she

most definitely didn’t want to. She wanted to indulge the fantasies

she’d had for years, and see if the boy she’d willingly given her

virginity to, was half the man she remembered.

A sharp crack of thunder startled them both and the lights

flickered overhead. Almost simultaneously they both pulled back,

panting for air, and staring into each other’s eyes. Lauren tried not to

see the longing in his deep blue gaze, but it was no use.

“Why did you do that?” She’d meant it to sound angry, but it

came out way too breathy.

“Because I wanted to.”

His response made her temper prickle, but she refused to lash

out. Now was not the time for them to get into this. When they found

Munchkin and got her safely back to the barn, they could hash out the

battle wounds they both still carried.

It took every ounce of strength she had to turn away from him

and shove her foot in the stirrup. Vin pushed on her ass giving her an

unnecessary boost into the saddle, but she still resisted making a

snippy comment. Later, she told herself, shushing the horse

underneath her. The weather was enough to make anyone nervous,

but Toto was obviously also drawing on the tension crackling in the

air.

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Lori King

Without a word, Vin led Toto out the barn door, closing it

securely behind them. Lauren had to jerk the baseball cap she was

wearing down low over her brow to block the blinding rain.

Thankfully, the raincoat she’d grabbed did a fairly decent job of

shielding her from the stinging drops as she waited for Vin to lift

himself up into the saddle behind her, instantly pinning her between

his rock hard chest and the saddle horn. It took a few awkward

wiggles before they both found a more comfortable seat, and Lauren

prayed that they’d find the cow quickly. If she had to ride with Vin’s

thick cock rubbing against the seam of her ass for too long she might

do something she’d regret later.

“West first.” Vin’s voice rumbled against her ear, and she

shivered before they even got out of the corral.

It didn’t take Lauren long to realize that their search was futile. It

would be pure luck if they stumbled over the lost cow in the hazy

darkness. The storm blocked out every speck of moonlight, so they

had to rely on lightning flashes to see where they were going. After

about thirty minutes, her teeth were chattering and she was regretting

her impetuous decision to come along.

The wind picked up just as they reached the tree line, and

suddenly the rain turned into tiny hailstones. Hail pounded down on

them, and Toto grew antsy.

“The hunting shack is our best chance to wait out the rain,” Vin

yelled over the roaring storm. She nodded, water pouring off the brim

of her cap and onto her already frozen hands. With a sharp tug of the

reins, she directed Toto into the trees in what she hoped was the right

direction for the hunting shack Abe Crawley had built when they

were young. When it became clear that she didn’t know where

exactly she was going, Vin’s arms came around her to cover her

hands on the reins and help guide them.

Like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, the dark tree cover lit

up with a streak of lightning revealing the wood clad building, no

bigger than a storage shed. Tree limbs draped heavily over the roof,

partially blocking the small door, and Lauren wondered what

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condition the old place was in. This wasn’t the time to be picky about

lodgings with the hail still nailing them through the tree branches.

Vin jumped off the horse like he wasn’t wearing an extra forty

pounds of rain soaked gear, and then reached for her. This time she

didn’t push him away, grateful for the strength of his arms as he

lifted her to the ground. It had been a long time since she’d been

riding, and her thighs were aching as she made a beeline for the small

hunting shack. Every step seemed like it was a mile long, but

somehow she managed to heave herself through the opening into the

dark space.

After a couple of long moments Vin followed her inside, and

closed the door behind him. Together they stood there gasping for

breath as the fury of the storm pounded against the wood structure.